1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an in-vehicle audio/visual apparatus which displays an external device screen of an external media player on a display unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
An automotive vehicle usually has an audio device installed therein, and a passenger who rides in the vehicle may sometimes carry a portable media player which is capable of playing and recording a music or video of a recording medium. It is thus demanded that the passenger is enabled to play a music recorded in the portable media player while riding in the vehicle. For this purpose, a technology which interconnects a portable media player and an audio device and enables operation of the portable media player on the audio device is proposed. For example, refer to Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2001-128280.
In a case of the audio device of Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2001-128280, the portable media player is connected to the audio device to establish communications therebetween, an operation signal generated by a user on an operation part of the audio device is transmitted from the audio device to the portable media player, and, in response to the operation signal, the portable media player transmits display information to the audio device. The audio device is arranged to display an operational status of the portable media player on a display part of the audio device, and a user interface of the portable media player can be arranged on the audio device.
However, portable media players generally differ in the functions and operating methods depending on the manufacturers of the respective portable media players, and it is difficult to perform operations, other than the fundamental operations, such as “playback” and “song choice”, on the audio device. In this connection, an information terminal device is proposed which manages access to a list of registered points which are stored beforehand on the basis of identification information (owner) of each of mobile phones, and displays a registered point editing screen. For example, refer to Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 11-0168574.
It is conceivable that if the information terminal device of Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 11-0168574 is applied to an audio device, an external device screen may be varied on a mobile phone (or portable media player) basis.
However, the information terminal device of Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 11-0168574 merely displays a screen of a registered point which differs on a mobile phone basis. Since the portable media players of respective manufacturers differ in the functions and operating methods, displaying of the operation items corresponding to the functions and operating methods would confuse the passenger, and it would be unclear to the passenger as to which operation item among the displayed operation items corresponds to the desired function of the portable media player and as to what operation should be performed on the display screen.